My complaint:
My name is Dan, and my husband and I experienced fraud from the hotel during our stay. We booked a room called Apartmentol Monterejas22 through booking.com, The reservation was for one night, from April 28th to April 29th, with a total amount of 61.2 euros.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we were received by a male staff member , This staff member deceived me and obtained the ation number and PIN code of my reservation. I had no anticipation that he would use this information for fraudulent purposes, impersonating me and changing the original check-out date from April 29th to May 1st. Furthermore, he altered the total amount of the reservation from 61.2 euros to 486 euros, overcharging me by 424.8 euros.
On the evening of April 28th, I discovered that my credit card had been charged 424.8 euros, clearly not authorized by me. I immediately contacted the customer service of booking.com and informed them about the unauthorized modification of my reservation. The customer service assured me that they would investigate and handle the refund with the accommodation provider. However, due to the fraudulent actions of the hotel, they deliberately refused to issue a refund. Despite multiple attempts to communicate with them, they ignored my concerns, resulting in a loss of 424.8 euros. I am extremely angry and upset about this situation.
Additionally, I would like to lodge a complaint against booking.com. Initially, we hoped to resolve this issue through communication with booking.com. Prior to sending this email, we made five international calls to booking.com’s customer service, each time enduring long wait times and receiving responses to patiently wait as they would handle the matter. However, we have not received any progress or replies. In our final call, we insisted on speaking directly with a supervisor named Mike Sade, but he displayed a very rude attitude and directly told us that this issue was not booking.com’s responsibility. However, we disagree with their attempt to shift the blame, and here are the reasons:
1. On the evening of April 28th, when we discovered the modification of the reservation, we immediately contacted booking.com’s customer service. At that time, the customer service assured us not to worry as they would handle the matter. This implies that booking.com had already committed to addressing the issue, which contradicts their later refusal to take responsibility. If during our first contact with booking.com, they had told us that this issue was not their concern, we would have sought alternative assistance instead of wasting time waiting for booking.com’s response, thus missing the critical time window.
2. During the third contact with customer service, a representative named Emma stated that they could trace the device number used to modify the reservation through technical means, thereby proving that it was not modified using our device. However, booking.com has consistently failed to provide this crucial technical data, undoubtedly covering up the misconduct of the accommodation provider. It is possible that due to the high commission booking.com receives from the accommodation provider, they are reluctant to investigate the details.
3. There is a serious security vulnerability in the booking.com website. When making a reservation, they store users’ credit card information. With only the reservation number and PIN code, anyone can modify the reservation from anywhere and make direct charges without the consumer’s ation. This is a severe technical loophole that allows the website to freely use users’ credit cards, compromising the security of all users’ credit card information.
As a result of this incident, our trip to Spain has left us with unpleasant memories. We really hope someone can see this and will help us solve this problem,support a fair resolution of this matter. We also hope to address this security vulnerability to prevent more international travelers from developing negative impressions of Ronda or Spain as a whole.
Suggested solution:
refund 424.8euro to us.
